


Family Ties

by The_Plaid_Slytherin



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Gen, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Skywalker Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 01:12:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6449539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/pseuds/The_Plaid_Slytherin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke and Leia begin to explore their relationship as siblings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Ties

**Author's Note:**

  * For [karyatid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/karyatid/gifts).



> I hope you like this! You had a bunch of great prompts/relationships but the idea of Luke and Leia beginning to figure out their family jumped out at me.

"Well, I'm going to see what damage Lando did to the _Falcon_." Han pushed himself off the log he'd been sitting on. "C'mon, Chewie." 

Chewie looked up and yowled at him.

"I know he did. Excuse me for wanting to make sure everything is the way I like it." 

Chewie stood reluctantly and they headed off together.

"Well, that was decent of him," Leia said. 

Luke smiled. "I guess you have questions." 

She had so many; she didn't know which to ask first. They all flickered through her mind, one after another. "What happened? You told us what happened on the Death Star, and how he—" She stopped. She still didn't want to admit that Vader had sacrificed himself for Luke. She knew he had brought balance to the Force, that there was good in him, but she couldn't believe it. All she saw was Alderaan, over and over again. She moistened her lips. "What he did for you. But I don't know how it all happened in the first place. Who was he before?"

Luke looked into the fire, his face in shadow. "He was a Jedi, Leia. His name was Anakin Skywalker."

She waited for the name to mean something to her. She felt something around her that might have been the Force, and she certainly felt Luke. And there was something else, a dim memory of their mother that she had told him of earlier, the words just popping into her mind, wholly unbidden. But there was nothing there for Vader. For her father. 

"He can be here. If you'd like to speak to him. He is as he was, in the Force."

"I'll pass for now, thanks." She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"

"I understand." It was almost infuriating that he did. This new Luke—her brother, the Jedi—was a totally different person than they boy who had come into her cell all those years ago. It was more than just a few years' maturity, though. It was the sort of calm Leia thought she'd never achieve, even if she really was as strong with the Force as Luke said she was. "Just know he's there if you ever want to see him."

"We'll see." There was so much she still didn't understand. "Why, Luke? Why did he become Vader?"

"He was misled. By the Emperor. He thought our mother was in danger, that we were in danger. The Emperor preyed upon those fears. Fear is the way to the Dark Side, Leia." 

Leia thought a little fear was probably healthy. But she'd never expected she would make a good Jedi. "But what about—" She stopped, shaking her head. "Maybe it should wait."

"I can understand being curious. Obi-Wan admitted—"

"You've got Obi-Wan back there, too?"

He smiled. "And Master Yoda. It's a technique the Jedi learned. Only those who use the Light Side of the Force can remain in it after death."

She supposed that was meant to tell her there was some good in Vader. She wondered who had told Luke only Light Side users could do it, but she let him go on.

"Even Obi-Wan admitted it was the fault of the Jedi Order that the Empire was allowed to grow. Our father wasn't discovered to be strong in the Force until he was nine years old. That was too old by the Order's standards. They didn't trust him to be a true Jedi." 

"But you were older even than that!"

Luke smiled. "That was why he thinks it was a mistake. The Jedi were on old order. They had lost their way. The Emperor exploited those weaknesses. They weren't supposed to form attachments, even get married. Our parents' marriage was secret."

That sounded oddly familiar to Leia. She fought to hold on to the sense she had, the sense of her mother. "I think I knew that, somehow. You asked me about my mother… but I don't actually remember her, of course. I just… feel her. Like she was there when I was a little girl."

"That's the Force, Leia." 

Suddenly, she didn't want it. It was all around her and it felt like drowning—it was so _overwhelming_. It wasn't just him that she could feel, but all the life around them. It wasn't something she wanted, at least not now. 

"You should be able to develop your powers one day. If you want to."

"I don't know." She had always known she was adopted, but the rest of it was too much. The ache of the loss of her parents on Alderaan was compounded by knowing that it was her father—her biological father—who had done it. She didn't know if she'd ever be comfortable with that. "How do you deal with it? Knowing what he did."

"I don't forgive any of those things. I don't even know if I understand them myself. Is it better to know why he did them? Maybe that doesn't really change anything." 

They were both silent for a long while. "I am glad of one thing," she said at last. "If he has to be our father. I'm glad you're my brother. I always wanted a brother." 

Luke smiled, suddenly looking more like himself. "And I always wanted a sister." 

"Did your aunt and uncle--" She paused, suddenly realizing they were _her_ aunt and uncle, too. "Did they tell you anything?" 

Luke shook his head. "They had always told me my father was dead and I can understand why. What could they say? They thought I would be safe on Tatooine and never arouse the Empire's suspicions." He paused. "I don't know what they would have done if I kept pushing to go to the Academy. It was always next year, next year. But I think one day, he would have needed a better explanation. They couldn't have kept me forever."

Leia nodded. "My parents could never have done that. Father always told me how important the Republic was, how we needed to work to preserve what was left of it. He never hid me from the Empire. I was right there fighting as soon as I was old enough. But Vader never knew who I was."

"He didn't even know we were alive. He didn't even know we were twins."

Leia nodded. There was still much about that time they would probably never know; she wished desperately she could talk to her mother as easily as Luke had talked to their father. "He knew who you were."

Luke laughed. "That was because of my name. Someone named Skywalker had to be his son."

Leia thought about that. Perhaps it was better that Vader hadn't known her for his daughter when he'd first laid eyes on her. She didn't know how their first encounter might have ended if he had. 

"I know it's a lot to take in," Luke said, noticing her expression. "We have time to work it out."

"Yes," she said, smiling. "We certainly do." The Empire was far from defeated, and there was a lot of work ahead, and that had to be their first priority. But it was comforting to know that, even without Alderaan, she would still have a member of her family, her brother, by her side.


End file.
